Galaxy TabPro S hands-on — A kickass Windows 10 Surface clone

Samsung unveiled a couple of exciting new products during its CES 2016 press conference, including the Notebook 9 and the Galaxy TabPro S. The TabPro S is sort of a Microsoft Surface clone; it’s a tablet that easily snaps on to the included keyboard, transforming it right into a laptop. Even better? The keyboard doesn’t suck.

The Galaxy TabPro S looks and feels like some of Samsung’s more premium Android tablets from recent years, but it runs a full version of Windows 10 instead of Android. To me, that’s huge, and it offers a much more powerful experience for the end-user. The TabPro S runs on an Intel Core M processor, the same sort of chip in the MacBook, and is just 6.3mm thick.

Samsung will load it with plenty of storage, offering either 128GB or 256GB options, and 4GB of RAM. There’s also a bright and sharp 12-inch 2160 x 1440-pixel display.

Perhaps the most compelling feature is the software that Samsung is adding to the tablet, which will enable it to sync with Galaxy smartphones. A quick tap to an NFC chip on the keyboard, for example, will allow you to unlock the computer using your phone’s fingerprint reader. You’ll also get text messages and notifications that are similar to Pushbullet, and Samsung even has a unique option that prompts you to use your phone’s LTE signal as a wireless connection.

Unlike the Surface Pro 4 and Surface units in general, the TabPro S has two positions for propping, though they seemed comfortable enough during my brief hands-on. I also liked the feedback on the keyboard, which connects using a magnet similar to the Surface products.